by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Peninsula College, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Peninsula College, 9% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $5,515 each, across private and federal loan sources.
The average federally funded loan is $4,982, which is 90.6% of the typical first-year dependent student borrowing cap of $5,500. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Counting every undergraduate at Peninsula College, 12% take out federal student loans, for a typical $7,173 per year. That is 44.0% greater than the $4,982 borrowed by freshmen.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $14,346 by year two and around $28,692 by the fourth year. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 12% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,173 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 135 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $968,297 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Peninsula College carry a median federal debt of $9,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $15,786 |
| Students who withdrew | $7,063 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Peninsula College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,167 |
| 75th percentile | $17,970 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $29,231 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Peninsula College.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Peninsula College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 76 | $11,773 |
Stafford loans are the federal direct-loan program most undergraduates use. The breakdown below separates borrowers who used Stafford loans from those who did not at Peninsula College.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 18 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 58 | — |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Peninsula College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Peninsula College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 15.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 300 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,502 |
| Middle income | $8,345 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,733 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $10,500 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at Peninsula College.
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
Worth Knowing
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.